Could you cough out your soul by accident?
No. Only angels and devils cough out their souls.
These then drift down to earth like spent leaves
or brightly colored pebbles and glistening sea shells
where blue-green mermaids, smaller than fairies
swim to beaches collecting them. Some they will
wear like pearlescent jewels in their long wavy hair.
the dung beetle
you won't find
this in a fortune cookie
but the true dung beetle
gives nuptial gifts
to his heart throb
and this seems
quite appropriate
since love depends
on so much shit
you'd think it couldn't
ever happen:
but it does.
Ed Higgins' poems and short fiction have appeared in numerous print and online journals. He and his wife live on a small farm in Yamhill, Oregon raising a menagerie of critters great and small. Ed teaches creative writing and literature at George Fox University, south of Portland, OR.